STA football makes itself at home in D-IV

DOVER — Even though it went undefeated and won the Division V championship in 2011, there were doubts about how the St. Thomas Aquinas High School football team would fare in Division IV this year.

So far, the Saints have made themselves very much at home in their new league.

St. Thomas rolled to its third straight win to open the season and 14th straight overall with a 47-15 rout of Laconia on Saturday at Dover Point. The win set up a battle of undefeated teams on Friday night at Windham, a rematch of last year's D-V title game.

"It's awesome being 3-0," said St. Thomas senior running back Ryan Monette. "Everyone was doubting us, but we hope to stay winning. We're going to do our thing."

The Saints were all over the overmatched Sachems (who suited up 29 players and brought along 30 cheerleaders) from the start, as Monette ran 50 yards for a touchdown on the second offensive play of the game. Monette scored again on a 1-yard run on the Saints' next drive, and the home team held a 13-0 lead before the game was four minutes old.

"To be 3-0 right now is great," St. Thomas coach Eric Cumba said. "To be able to continue to grow in this unfamiliar territory, I've seen great strides since our first game two weeks ago to now."

Monette finished with three touchdowns and 105 yards rushing and St. Thomas led 26-8 at halftime. Jake Geppert ran for 65 yards, including a 30-yard strike in the third quarter. Hayden Middleton was 5 for 5 on extra-point attempts and nailed field goals from 35 and 32 yards.

After building a 23-0 lead following Monette's second touchdown, St. Thomas let its foot off the gas a little bit, as Laconia forced the Saints to punt on their next two possessions. On one series, the Saints were flagged three times for procedure penalties, backing them up to third-and-35 from their own 26 and forcing them to punt.

"We came out very strong," Cumba said. "To go up three scores quickly is a great effort to start the game. We kind of tailed off in the second (quarter) with some mental mistakes and started to look a little fatigued. But then we picked it up, and played really strong third- and fourth-quarter football."

The Sachems finally got an offensive drive going midway through the second quarter, and Graham Nyhan threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Matt Swormstedt to cut the Saints' lead to 23-8.

"I wish I had 11 of him," Laconia coach Craig Kozens said about Nyhan. "He does a lot of nice stuff for us. We put him everywhere. He's a great athlete for his size."

Nyhan was all over the place for the Sachems, playing six different positions — quarterback, running back, wide receiver, long snapper, kicker and defensive tackle.

St. Thomas quarterback Joseph Karsonovich threw for 157 yards on 13-for-22 passing. Peter Yarosewick and Ryan Geppert recovered fumbles for the Saints and Josh Carberry blocked a punt in the third quarter. Freshman Trevor Martin scored a garbage-time touchdown for the Saints.

"We came out sharp," Geppert said. "In the second quarter we kind of let up a little bit. But coach gave us a good talk in the locker room at halftime. We knew we had to come out and finish this."

Laconia struggled mightily to move the ball, gaining just 13 rushing yards in the first half. The Sachems went three-and-out on their first two drives, which consisted of six incomplete passes.